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March 2010 Issue

Semper Ubi Sub Ubi

readme:

Whew. That was close. It’s still March, right? It must be, somewhere. Australia? By the way (he said, deftly changing the subject), is anyone else still creeped out by having to write “2010”? It seems to have scrambled my noggin so badly that I caught myself writing “1997” on a check the other day.

Elsewhere in the news, Spring has sprung, of course, sinking its razor-sharp claws into my soul. The good news is that Monroe and Babs, our resident turkey vultures, have returned to the old hollow tree where they nest every year. The day they arrived I walked over to the tree to say hi, and one of them took off, swooped down to about six feet above my head, circled around me, and zoomed right back to the tree. I think they like me. They should. I found a dead mouse in the front hall the other day, so I took it to them as a housewarming gift.

The cats whack mice around here every so often, but I don’t always notice right away because the floor is already littered with platoons of mousey cat toys, many of which are very realistic. If you look closely, of course, you’ll notice that the cat toy mice appear to be a lot happier.

Oh yeah, the bad news is that the grass is growing.

Incidentally, I’d like to take this opportunity to give formal notice to the world that I am no longer paying attention. At all. After being a semi-news-junkie for years, I’ve had it. I think something snapped when I realized that, after intense study, I finally understood credit default swaps, but it didn’t make a damn bit of difference.

So I’ve decided to watch lots of TV. So far I’ve taken a shine to a show called Pawn Stars, which is a reality show set in a family-owned pawn shop in Las Vegas. It’s actually a very funny show. Really.

I’ve also started watching House, which is easy to do because it’s carried in reruns on, like, five different cable networks. I had not realized (because I’d never watched it, even though it’s in its sixth or seventh season) that the show was modeled on the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, which I’ve always loved. Yeah, it’s a bit silly and formulaic, but I admire House’s cynical attitude and sardonic humor. And, of course, there’s the cane thing.

I’ve also spent the past month reading Stephen King’s ten-pound Under the Dome, and I actually liked it a lot, which is a first for me and King’s books. I had always agreed with the Times (of London) critic who, many years ago, memorably described one of King’s creations as “Five tons of crap in a ten-ton crate.” But Dome isn’t really science-fiction or horror. It’s very reminiscent, in fact, of Sinclair Lewis’s It Can’t Happen Here in theme, scope and style. And I must say, as a resident of a small, isolated town, that King does not exaggerate in the slightest the potential for corruption and brutality in such venues. Anyway, I’d recommend reading it before they turn it into a really awful movie.

Onward. Many kind people have written to me about my ms over the past few months, and I really appreciate your concern and encouragement. Several readers have asked whether I am taking any of the various interferon ms medications available, and the answer is no. There are two basic types of multiple sclerosis (there are others, but they tend to be very rare). By far the most common type is “relapsing-remitting” ms (RRMS), which usually strikes folks in their 20s, and is marked by bouts of symptoms interspersed with long periods of feeling relatively (or completely) OK. The interferon drugs are approved for this kind of ms because they show some statistical success in suppressing or at least tempering the relapses.

The other main kind of ms, which is the one I have, is called “primary progressive” (PPMS), and tends to strike people a bit older. Unfortunately, there are no remissions in PPMS — you just get progressively worse. Since PPMS is essentially one long, slow decline, and the interferon drugs have never been proven to slow or halt that slide, they’re not approved for treatment of PPMS. That’s OK with me, because (a) they’re very expensive and I could never afford them, and (b) there are serious questions as to whether they actually do enough good to outweigh the risks of that sort of drug therapy. I do take tons of vitamins and do my best to stay active. As of right now, I can walk or stand for about ten minutes before my legs hurt like hell, and after another five minutes they simply stop responding to my commands, which is very weird. The whole thing is weird.

Many cases of RRMS, at least as of now, eventually progress to something called “secondary progressive” ms, in which the symptoms of the disease become so constant, with no remissions, that it is, effectively, the same as primary progressive ms. I think this raises a real question as to whether PPMS and RRMS are actually different forms of ms, or whether RRMS simply so frequently goes undiagnosed in early adulthood that it “pops up” and is labeled PPMS when the patient is finally so debilitated that doctors can no longer ascribe the symptoms to lack of sleep or depression. I know that many of the symptoms that plague me now, such as leg pain, cramping and numbness, as well as severe pain in my eyes, actually periodically bothered me in my late 20s, but doctors never suggested testing for ms (although both are classic ms symptoms). Oh well. I’m actually glad I didn’t know.

Onward. As I mentioned last month, if anyone has a notebook or netbook computer of relatively recent vintage that’s collecting dust in the corner, I could put it to good use.

1 comment to March 2010 Issue

Sorry about your MS,aheavy load to carry.I also have a load to carry,it’s called fibromyalgia syndrome and it too is a nasty that life sometimes throws at people,I ache a lot and feel exhausted too.I am in Australia,the southern region and here we are in what you call”fall”,ie autumn-a beautiful time of the year.Winter officially begins in June.I think people in the US think we have an “outback’lifestyle with kangaroos bounding down the main street.Uh uh-we are a city of about 3 million,thoroughly modern(we even have running water)ha ha.I myself am 70 yrs old and well and truly retired.I enjoy your blogs so keep em coming.Hooroo for now,Frank.